So our episode today will be totally focused on one single thing: DRINKS, BEVERAGES… NON-ALCOHOLIC AND ALSO, ALCOHOLIC STUFF… BOOZE!
Booze? What the hell is booze? I’ve never heard of this word before.
Guys, booze is a slang word for “alcoholic drink” like beer, wine and so on.
I came here today to share some interesting vocabulary, real life situations and why not, some experiences right?!
So, whenever you see or hear the word booze (B-O-O-Z-E), they’re talking about something alcoholic alright?.
- Bring your own booze (very common in parties) and it’s commonly written as BYOB.
- What’s your favorite booze? You can say… Uh, I love cocktails!
Now something interesting. There’s a grocery store here in Iowa called Hy-Vee. It’s very similar to Walmart, but I’d say, a little fancier – and of course more expensive. Well, there’s a special department inside called Wine & Spirits and the first time I saw it, I was like… “BEER, WINE AND SPIRITS?? SPIRITS LIKE… GHOSTS?? IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!” I got really curious about that word in that context.
And yeah, EVERY TIME I see a new word, something that calls my attention specially after realizing it’s very common, I check the meaning (in English). And with the word “SPIRITS”, it wasn’t different.
My favorite online dictionary btw is MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM. And that’s what I found – SPIRITS:
“Distillate: such as the liquid containing ethanol and water that is distilled from an alcoholic liquid or mash —often used in plural.”
In other words: SPIRITS is the same as DISTILLATE DRINKS.
The term spirit is also referred to as liquor. You’ve probably heard of “liquor stores” in your life, right? If not, liquor stores are places in the USA where you go to buy all kinds of alcoholic beverages.
Now I’ll just share some types of spirits with you guys so you’ll be able to order whatever you wish, in case you want or can of course…
I’m pretty sure this type of vocabulary you will learn in a blink of an eye!
WHISKEY – and just out of curiosity, you can write Whisky in 2 different ways ok? I’ll leave them in the transcription file: WHISKEY / WHISKY)
So we have 2 types of Whiskey: BRANDY AND SCOTCH– for the ones who don’t know, brandy and scotch are both different kinds of whiskey. I’m not going into details here because it is all too technical, but it’s something about the distillation process of the beverage. Also, scotch is produced in Scotland, that’s why it has this name and has a different taste from whiskey.
ABSINTHE
VODKA
RUM (and be careful with the pronunciation here. It’s /rãm/ and not /rum/
TEQUILA (we have the gold tequila and the silver tequila ok?)
SAKE… so SAKE is Portuguese right? SAKE is in English
COGNAC /ko-nyac/ is also a type of Spirit
GIN
CACHAÇA (Americans love to say the word cachaça and most of them have some trouble saying that word because they usually mispronounce by saying “cassacha” LOL).
LICQUER like Amarula or Jägermeister.
Ok, now I’ll give you a short list of cocktails. If you don’t know, cocktails are the same as they are in Portuguese. A mixture of some alcoholic beverages and other ingredients like condensed milk, fruit, sugar, among other things.
MOSKOW MULE – Also known as vodka buck, this is a cocktail made with vodka, spicy ginger-flavored beer, and lemon juice and served on a copper-like mug. Sounds yummy, doesn’t it? Yep, it is very yummy!
BLOODY MARY – one of the most horrible things in the world LOL. a cocktail made with vodka, tomato juice (yeah, you hear me right… tomato juice) lemon juice, tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, and some other surprising ingredients. It is considered a nutritional breakfast and the best cure for a hangover. Gee!
COSMOPOLITAN – This is a very common cocktail here in the US. And it is prepared with vodka, triple sec, lemon juice and cranberry juice.
MARGARITA – No, not the pizza… the booze! I guess you’ll know this one since the name and recipe are the same from the ones we make in Brazil. The ingredients in the making of this cocktail are tequila, salt, lemon juice, and orange liqueur.
Now about my personal taste…
I am more a wine girl!
I do like liquors like Jägermeister, Malibu or Amarula….
There’s a long time I don’t Tequila but this has been one of my favorites, especially the gold tequila. I mean, silver tequila is fine… but both are good!) LOL
I don’t like Whisky and if you do, you should ask for a “Whisky on the rocks”
On the rocks means with ice!
But my favorite one, the one I would say I have more frequently, on weekends especially… is wine and always dry. I also like sparkling wine and champagne.
What about beer? Meh! Not my type. If it’s a scorching day in the summer, I mean, 95 degrees Fahrenheit outside I might have a very light and refreshing one like Coors Light but it’s not really my thing.
But I know some of you might like beer as a booze, so let’s talk a little about it. I’m not gonna be selfish hahaa. The most common types of beer are:
-IPA: Indian Pale Ale
-Wheat Beer
-Porter
-Belgium Style
-Stout
What about popular brands of beer in the US? I’m pretty sure you’ve already heard of them before, so let’s focus on the pronunciation kkk:
- Budweiser
- Budlight
- Stella
- Corona
- Coors
- Blue Moon
And now some more curiosities but related to beer:
- Blue Moon is traditionally served with a slice of orange – yes sir! Why? I have no clue. Google it! Hahah just kidding, I don’t know!
Guys, there are more than 5,000 breweries in the USA. Brewery, in case you don’t know, is where beer is made.
And craft beer is becoming more and more famous. Nowadays there are more than 3,000 craft breweries in the US. Ok, but what is a craft beer? It’s a beer made in a traditional, or in other words, non-mechanized way by a small brewery. Craft beer is not brewed in huge corporations and they usually have a huge variety of flavors and fermentation
And there’s also the draft beer. Some people don’t drink beer but do drink draft beer. It’s a beer drawn from a keg. A keg? What’s that? LOL
It’s basically a 60-litter barrel. But keg is more common when talking about draft beer. Draft beer is served from pressurized ked rather than from a bottle or can.
You might know in the US, measures are different right? So it’s common for us, Brazilian people to order, buy or sell in liters or milliliters right?
How is it in the US? Take note of it:
- 1 PINT: around 470mls
- 1 PITCHER = 1.9L
- 1 GALLON: around 3.7 litters
What about WINE?
Pronunciation first! It’s not VAINE, Vine is the social network of funny videos. The right pronunciation is WINE ok, guys? This is the most important tip of the pronunciation of this beverage, many people make this mistake so be careful!
There are many types of wine, like champagne, white wine, red wine, sparkling wine, and rose wine.
I don’t know if you have already heard of ROOT BEER before.
Well, ROOT BEER guys is not alcoholic. That’s soda actually. Yep, kids love ROOT BEER. I’ve already tried that before and it tastes like toothpaste or “gelol” Have you ever eaten Gelol before? Yeah, the ointment… No? Me neither LOL But I have the feeling Root Beer and Gelol taste the same. Yuck! It’s horrible, in my humble opinion. I definitely don’t like it.
And if you don’t drink booze, it’s also important to know this type of vocabulary because you’re gonna hear people talking about it and I don’t want you to be out of the conversation. See how nice I am? Hahaha
Well, if that’s your case and somebody asks you the kind of booze you like, you can just say:
- Oh, I don’t drink. Thanks.
- I’m not into booze actually.
Or if you like but you can’t for some reason, you can say:
- I’m driving today (I’m the designated driver today)
- I’m taking medicines. I can’t drink today.
Alrighty! Enough of booze for today right? Now let’s talk about some non-alcoholic beverages and I’ll with the simples and purest….
WATER
Yeah, calm down! I know water is too obvious easy, but I brought this one especially for those people who pronounce it in the wrong way! It’s not “WÁLTER” like a man’s name. It’s water, repeat WATER!
At a restaurant, you can ask for sparkling water, carbonated water or seltzer water which is the one with bubbles, or still water, drinking water or spring water, the regular one. There’s still the option many Americans go for that is tap water.
The tap is that thing on your sink where water comes from and you use it to wash the dishes. Yes! Americans ask for that because tap water is potable due to a treatment it goes through, before coming out of their sinks but let me tell you one secret… we may just ask for water and they will bring you the one from the fountain drinks machines! That’s right. In those machines that are many options like coke, diet coke, root beer, Dr. Pepper, juice and also water! So that’s where you water in a restaurant, usually come from!
Oh, and it’s for free ok? In case you prefer the bottled one, so this option you will have to pay.
Oh, and before I forget there’s also SCENTED WATER. You can find these in Brazil now, but it’s not as common as it is here. There’s a brand called La Croix and it commercializes scented water, which is basically water with different smells and flavors, like coconut, peach, lime, etc.
Alrighty, let’s talk about MILK
I know! For us, Brazilians it is supper common to order milk with coffee especially for breakfast, right? Well, I must tell you that this is not common here whatsoever. First, if you order milk, chances are it will come cold! Yep! If you want it warm, so make sure to ask for it!
Erika, how come they are not used to drinking coffee with milk?
They’re not! That’s cultural! They do have something called latte which is similar. It’s like, a full glass of hot milk with a shot of espresso so in the end, it’s just a darker milk LOL
There are many kinds of milk to choose from. You can go for SKIM MILK, which is fat-free. There’s also 1% or 2% which is a low-fat milk… and you can go for WHOLE MILK, which is the traditional one.
Now.. LAC-FREE MILK and DAIRY FREE MILK. What’s the difference?
Lac-free means it’s milk that comes from an animal, are dairy products where the lactose has been removed
Dairy in English means a product contains or it’s made of milk produced by an animal. If the milk is dairy-free, so it this is a type of milk made of nuts, plants or anything like that. Got it?
SOFT DRINKS
Soft drinks can also be known as pop or soda depending where you’re from. This is basically a non-alcoholic drink and it is carbonated.
Some common brands are Coca-Cola, Fanta, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper. Oh, just so you know Dr. Pepper is not common in Brazil and, for me, in my opinion it tastes like anise, if it makes any sense LOL.
Yay, juice!
No, it’s not JUIIIICII.. but juice! You drink juice.. so repeat after me JUICE!
One more time juice!
That’s right, let’s go again in case you forget: JUICE
Hahaha that’s called BRAINWASHING hahaha
The juice is the liquid you extract from some fruit and, why not, vegetables right?
Fun fact: It is absurdly hard to find freshly squeezed juice here in the US. I mean, I’ve never found that in Iowa and I have no idea why since it’s sooo simple to make. Yep! Americans usually drink juice from boxes or bottles. At the supermarket, you find dozens of options, colors, types, prices, etc
Oh, when choosing your bottle of orange juice, you can also choose between SOME PULP or PULP FREE, or also called NO PULP. Oh, you don’t know what pulp means? Pulp is the part of a fruit or vegetable that is left after the liquid has been squeezed from it.
One more curiosity regarding REAL ENGLISH, the English we say on a daily basis. In case you’re at a restaurant and you feel like drinking orange juice, instead of saying ORANGE JUICE, just say OJ. Yeah, that’s the cool name for orange juice. Promise me you won’t forget it? OJ!
Now, you know Christmas is coming right? We have a beverage for that too!
This is a cultural extra. You’ll see Americans drinking eggnog on Christmas. Yeah, I can already find lots and lots of eggnogs on the shelves by now. In case you don’t know, eggnog is made with a mix of beaten eggs, sugar, milk or cream and you can add alcoholic liquor if you want to (which is common LOL)
No, I have never tried Eggnog before and I always tell my followers on the social media that I will this year but hopefully they will forget to ask me that again LOL
Ok guys… before we end our episode today, I’d like share a story with you all that has a “keyword” from our topic today: MILK.
Prepare your handkerchiefs ‘cause I’m pretty sure you will feel emotive, and it’s called: A glass of milk, paid in full
One day, a poor boy named Howard Kelly who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.
Instead of a meal he asked for a glass of water. She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk.
He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness.”
He said, “Then I thank you from my heart.”
As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.
Years later that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.
Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.
Dressed in his doctor’s gown he went in to see her. He recognized her immediately. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to the case.
After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room.
She feared to open it, because she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She began to read the following words:
“Paid in full with one glass of milk.
Signed, Dr. Howard Kelly.”